Fractured Air x Blogothèque – S02E08 | August mix

August’s mixtape features a pair of tracks from This Is How We Fly’s eagerly-anticipated second album “Foreign Fields”, due for release on 15th September 2017. The four-piece comprise the renowned musicians: Petter Berndalen (drums), Nic Gareiss (percussive dance), Seán Mac Erlaine (clarinets, electronics) and Caoimhín Ó Raghallaigh (hardanger d’amore fiddles). Hailing from Ireland, Sweden and USA, the quartet draw upon a rich tapestry of sounds and traditions, drawing upon the raw energy and rich dynamism of jazz and its true spirit of improvisation, together with traditional music’s eternal affinity and appreciation for honing and perfecting one’s craft. “Foreign Fields” is a joy to behold, its soul-stirring music navigates new sonic terrain while continually pushing its four composers to reach for new heights, forever onwards and upwards for this most inventive and mythical of bands.

UK producer James Holden’s “The Inheritors” (Border Community, 2013) was one of this century’s finest records, an album for modern times created by one of the most consistently innovative and singular artists making music today. With the announcement that it’s long-awaited follow-up, “The Animal Spirits” (due for release on 3rd November once again via Holden’s own Border Community label), it is bound to rise to the surface on many an end-of-year lists come December. The album (described as “synth-led folk-trance standards”) features Holden’s newly assembled group of “fellow travellers”, James Holden & The Animal Spirits. The personnel comprises long-time collaborators Tom Page and Etienne Jaumet, as well as Marcus Hamblett, Liza Bec and Lascelle Gordon. The album’s lead single, “Pass Through The Fire” has so far been unveiled, the track having been inspired by his 2014 trip to Morocco to work with late Gnawa music legend Maalem Mahmoud Guinia. James Holden was also recently added to the special guest curatorial program at this November’s Le Guess Who? Festival at Utrecht, where he has invited such stellar musicians as Serbia’s Mario Batkovic and Canada’s Jerusalem In My Heart to his lineup.

Compiled by Fractured Air, August 2017. The copyright in these recordings is the property of the individual artists and/or record labels. If you like the music, please support the artist by buying their records.